How To Be Ready For Future Pandemics?

We are losing a battle against “invisible enemies” (so far)

The pharmaceutical business is naturally driven by market forces. Since biology is extremely complex, drug discovery may cost up to $2.6 Billion in R&D investments. Hence, in order for a business to exist, the market and demand for a drug have to be substantial.

While this commercial approach is working in therapeutic areas with large patient populations, long-term treatment courses and high medication prices (oncology, metabolic diseases, etc), it is clearly failing when it comes to treating occasional bacterial infections, or irregular but severe viral outbreaks, such as the ongoing COVID19 pandemics.  

Take antibiotics, for example: despite some groundbreaking research inventions in the area, they appear to be a hard case when it comes to business, illustrated by a wave of startup bankruptcies (e.g. Aradigm, Achaogen), and a stampede of big pharma companies from the antibiotics market. This is happening during the time when antibiotics resistance is a looming global threat already killing more than 750,000 people every year, and projected to cause up to 10 million deaths each year by 2050 -- if urgent measured are not taken. 

A similar lack of market incentives left all of us unprepared for the present COVID19 crisis. In 2002 and 2003 we had a warning sign of it when the SARS-CoV pandemic paralyzed the Far East. However, discovery efforts into the virus mostly halted after the end of the crisis and did not lead to any marketed drugs. 

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